Romans 7 The Deceived Self-Life (Acting as if the human has his own nature) The Lie Exposed Satan is the Culprit.

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1 Copyright 2009 Sylvia D. Pearce All rights reserved Published by: Christ, Our Life Ministries, Inc. Po Box Louisville, Ky Programs 18, 19, 20 Romans 7 The Deceived Self-Life (Acting as if the human has his own nature) Not functioning as God intended is the true meaning of dysfunctional humanity. Rom.7:11 Sin has deceived me Rom.7:15-16 What I hate, that I do Rom.7:21 When I would do good, evil is present with me Rom.7:18 How to perform that which is good, I find not Rom.7:24 Old wretched man, who shall deliver me Gal.5:17 The flesh lusted against the Spirit Rom.8:5 They that are after the flesh mind the things of the flesh Rom.8:8 They that are in the flesh cannot please God Rom.8:13 If you live after the flesh, you shall die The Lie Exposed Satan is the Culprit. Rom.7:17&20 No more I that do it, but sin dwelling in me Romans7:7-25 has been one of the most debated segments in the Bible. Some say, Paul was not saved when he wrote it, while others agree that he was a Christian, but they say the struggles and wrestling he had with himself was his permanent condition through-out his life. Others make the point that we humans have two natures and we, like Paul, will always war with an evil human nature. None of these opinions ever satisfied me. The question then, is why did Paul move from generalities concerning his union position being dead to the law, (7:1-6) to his own strivings about his present tense personal I (7:7-25)? And do, and can we Christians have two natures at the same time? The Bible doesn t support any of these explanations. So what is our answer? I believe that Paul did a big thing by moving from his own realized union, backtracking from being dead to the law, to align himself and identify as an intercessor, with every born again believer, in the same I dilemma, by using the present tense I, I, I. I often identify myself with whoever I am ministering to. When the need arises, I can be all things to all people, and I can identify myself with anyone. I find myself speaking as if I am right where they are, even though it is not presently true of myself. I consider that God s love. Paul says in I Corinthians 9:19-22 that, For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more. And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; to the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all

2 men, that I might by all means save some. I believe that is just what Paul did in Romans 7:7-25. He expounded on his past experience as if it was his present condition in order to identify with us all. The sin that so beset Paul in this Romans passage was his failure to keep the 10 th commandment. Thou shall not covet. Coveting is an inner sin, one that most could hide, but Paul, being true to God, couldn t bear to hide it. Unger s Bible Dictionary defines coveting as, an inordinate desire for what one has not, which has its basis in discontentment with what one has. It has an element of lawlessness and is sinful because it is contrary to the command, Be content with such things as ye have, (Hebrews 13:5) because it leads to trust in uncertain riches, to love of the world, to forgetfulness of God, and is idolatry (Colossians 3:5) setting up wealth instead of God. It ranks as one of the worst sins (Mark 7:22; Romans 1:29). Let us take a historical and maybe psychological look into Paul s background to understand why coveting became his personal sin-issue. Paul was of pure Jewish decent, he was of the tribe of Benjamin; he was a son of a Pharisee, thus making him a Pharisee. Philippians 3:4-6 says that he was a Hebrew of all the Hebrews, as touching the law a Pharisee, and as touching the righteousness of the law, blameless. Through his patriarchal birthing, he was a Roman citizen. His Roman citizenship superseded all other citizenships before the law and in the general opinion of society it placed him amid the aristocracy of any provisional town. Remember how fearful the jailors were when they found out that Paul was a Roman citizen in Acts 22:29? They feared because they had mistreated him. My Theory His rank in life afforded him great riches, power, position, respect and personal glory. Yet when Paul became a Christian, he gave up his riches and glory and took on Christian poverty and disgrace. Could it be that Paul remembered his past life and started to yearn intensely after it? Could it be that the devil reminded him daily of his past status in life, as well as the luxuries and comforts he used to have before becoming a Christian? Could he have wondered why being a Christian meant to suffer, to be rejected, disgraced, and humiliated? Being the brilliant Jewish scholar that he was, why was he exiled to the desert in Arabia barely having enough to eat? Wouldn t it be logical that while in sun baked, Arabia, he began to long after all that he had lost, but then on the other hand be convicted for desiring it, seeing he had willing given it all up for Jesus? Can t we see why he started to condemn himself for coveting after what he had willing given up for Christ? Yet he was powerless to stop the mental spin in his head. That made him doubly guilty, sinful as well as too weak to do anything about it. The Conundrum Paul was a moral man, as a Pharisee, he had kept the law perfectly, but now as a Christian he couldn t conquer his own sin. Interesting, he had power as a sinner to keep the law perfectly (Philippians 3:6), but as a Christian he was powerless (Romans 7:11). Keeping the law perfectly in his own strength was keeping it by the power of the devil, yet God wouldn t give him the power not to sin as a Christian. I believe that we are starting to get the picture of the dilemma that Paul was in. Let me say here that this is the only chapter in the Bible that is a lie! Does that shock you? It should. I hope that I have your attention. Paul s experience is true, but what he is believing about himself is a lie. Let us investigate. He Begins to Muse about Himself and Analyze His Dilemma. What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin but by the law; for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shall not covet. But sin taking occasion by the

3 commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead (Rom.7:7-8) Paul is awakened by the law to see sinful patterns in himself. And now awakened, he was concerned over the particular sin of coveting. His concern drives Him to his first question: How can I get deliverance over this insidious sin of coveting? It besets me every time. Could it be, that if the law didn t shout at me telling me not to covet, then maybe I wouldn t have this sin problem? I feel so powerless to keep this commandment, Thou shalt not covet, So what if the commandment was done away with altogether? Then maybe I would be free from this guilt. Could that be the answer? Paul is still musing: That can t be the answer, for it was through the demands of the law that I saw how heinous sin was in the first place. God used it to be the spot-light that exposes my sin. He spotlighted sin in me, which drove me to find Christ, in the first place. I can t find fault in the law nor eliminate God s spot-light. God intends for broken law to convict us and be seen as sin. Somehow, sin must get its power from the law because the law arouses in me all manner of evil desires. However, without the law those evil desires die away. So, I m still wondering if the law is my problem. For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. For sin taking occasion by the commandment deceived me and by it slew me (Rom.7:11). Paul had experienced New Covenant grace, not law, when he first became a Christian. However, when He was tempted to covet, the commandment, Thou shall not covet, shouted at him and exposed the sin of coveting in him, which in turn killed him because he couldn t conquer it. How is it that the law, being an instrument of life, caused him to die and why does it deceive him and slay him? Good question. He was frustrated and defeated, as well as challenged by the law, yet laughed at by sin, making it plain that sin had him under control. Remember sin is personified here; it is Satan who deceives him and laughs at him at the same time. We will look further. Wherefore the law is holy and the commandment holy, and just and good. Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. Sin working death in me by that which is good: that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful. For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin (Rom.7:14). Paul finds his answer by the process of elimination. The law can t be my problem, it is, holy, just and good. Then how can God s outer law be death to me when I try to keep it? How is it that, the holy spiritual law is working death in me? Good is producing death so that sin might appear what it is, exceedingly sinful. Ok, I see it, the law is defiantly not the problem, then the blame must be put on me, I am too carnal to keep it because my flesh seems to be a slave to sin. If the problem is the human me, then I am guilty, yet I am totally frustrated, in despair, and confused. The first question is answered, the law is not my problem, but Paul s self-assessment was not true either, but it sure seemed to be. Actually, most of Christianity has a deceived mentality, What is wrong with me? The human me, that is. I have a presentation called What is Man? and the reason I teach it is basically because this question is the most misunderstood question in Christianity. He goes on to the second compelling question, Is my human self the problem? For that which I do, I allow not: for what I would that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good (Rom.7:16).

4 Paul is declaring that he is committing sin even when, in his will, he wills against it. He willed over and over again not to sin, but he ends up sinning anyway. This says to us that Paul could not will himself out of his sins. He had the will, put not the power not to sin. Will, but no power. As he analyzed it further, he saw that his will was in agreement with God s law and not at all contrary to it. That told him that the human spirit, our choice-maker/self, couldn t be the problem either. This is an amazing discovery. The law is not his problem! His human self is not the problem! The devil had accused Paul s human self of being Paul s biggest problem, but now Paul didn t have to believe that lie anymore. His human self wasn t the evil culprit, he wasn t against God, nor God s laws, so then he wasn t the evil one doing the evil. OK, then what or who was the real problem? Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me (that is in my flesh,) dwells no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not (Rom.7:18). This is a vital revelation. Something wholly Other than Paul was doing the sinning, yet the other, is accusing him of being the evil culprit. That is an amazing discovery no more I that do it. The human Paul wasn t producing his own sins. The truth is that the human vessel is totally incapable of producing sins. Big, news! Only a deity nature can produce sin or righteousness. The human being doesn t have its own power nor nature, so therefore it has no power to produce sin, nor set himself free from it. This passage is the negative counter-part to Galatians 2:20. Galatians says, I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me. Romans 7:17 says, No more I that do it, but sin that dwells in me. There it is, the human cannot produce it s own righteousness, (Galatians 2:20) nor can it produce its own sin. (Romans 7:17), the human is a simple receiver/vessel. Then who is it producing the sins, and what or who is sin? The sin that dwelled in him was masquerading as self-effort. Sins are the fruit/product of the producer Sin. Everyone knows that the fruit doesn t have power in its- self. Jesus said in John 15:4 that without me, the vine, you cannot produce your own fruit. Therefore, sins must be the product of a person called Sin or Satan. I John 3:8 says that, He that commits sin is of the devil; for the devil sins from the beginning. If the human can produce its own sins, then there is a possibility that it can produce its own righteousness. That is blasphemy; because the human would then take Christ s place as Savior, and Lord. We would be our own God and fall right into Satan s devious plan for man to become like God, that is, the creature to become the Creator, and for fallen flesh to try to become Divine Spirit, which would make man a son of Satan, instead of a son of God. Now how is it that sin/satan dwells in Paul, the Christian? How can Satan produce sins through Paul who is indwelt by Christ? The human is tripartite, spirit, soul and body. Christ is one with us in Spirit, but Satan can get an advantage in us through the flesh (soul and body) if we believe his lies of human performance. Verse 23 says there is, another law in my members that brings me into bondage to the law of sin in my members. A law, or principal, or person in my members (soul/body) brings me into bondage. So, Satan is not in Paul s spirit, but it is in his flesh as an adulterous spirit ruling his flesh. As long as Paul gives power to him, by trusting in his own abilities to perform. That is why Paul cries out, How to perform, I find not. Performance based righteousness doesn t work. This scripture is the proof. The human doesn t do its own sinning (7:17) nor does it do its own goodness (7:18).

5 Another vital point here is that the human doesn t have its own will power. That is interesting, because everybody thinks that the human has will power. But no, this verse proves that we don t. The will is present with me, but how to perform I find not. It certainly is true that Paul is saying that the human has a will, that is not even the point. The point is the human doesn t have the power to fulfill its own will, not to sin. We humans have the faculty of choice, but we don t have the power behind our choice. What we can do, which Paul didn t understand at this point, is to will or choose, the one with the power to fulfill the spirit choice. So I say there is no such thing as WILL POWER. Human will, yes, but the human will is powerless without the Spirit s strength to fulfill it. Therefore Paul couldn t even will or choose his way out of Roman 7. because Paul couldn t deliver himself. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwells in me. I find a law that, when I would do good, evil is present with me (Rom.7:21). Paul reiterates again, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells in me. The Spirit often repeats Himself when He is making an important point as He does here. Paul says that he finds a principle at work whenever he tries to do good. When he does try to do good, evil is present with him. Boy, that ought to catch our attention. We must conclude that doing good by our own self effort, which is actually an expression of Satan, is evil. It is the creature trying to be like the Creator, and it is Satan s age-old deception, I will be like the most high God. Satan wasn t trying to be evil, he didn t know what evil was. This event spoken of in Isaiah 14:14 was the first time a creature ever tried to be like God. Trying to be like God is so subtle, but it is really trying to replace God. This Satanic act was the first evil in all the universe, yet it was hidden under the guise of goodness. It is the same pharisaical religious spirit which works in us today. So Paul in Romans 7, like Satan, is doing the same evil by trying to be good. Remember, I am not saying that the doing good is evil, but trying to do good by self-effort is where the real evil lies hidden, posing itself as Christian goodness. Self-effort is an expression of Satan. Sin that dwells in me, is Satan masquerading as my own self-effort, my own ability, my own sufficiency, and an independent life of my own. The Sin that dwells in us is a false reality. We Christians are operating from a false satanic reality. Remember, as a man thinketh, so is he (Prov. 23:7). If we believe that self-effort is the way to operate and the human is responsible for keeping himself from evil, or being the strength of his own righteousness, then that is what is real to us even though it is based on a lie. What we believe is very creative. False believing produces a false reality, while right believing produces true reality. My good friend, Kathryn Magnotto said, Everything fulfills the word spoken over it, whether negatively or positively. Do we have it clear how Satan gets his advantage over us continually? Satan s temptation is not the problem, our response to the temptation is not the problem. The problem is that he deceives us into thinking that the human vessel should be like God by trying to be good. We strive to stop sinning, and we strive to overcome our temptations. The very act of self-striving to conquer is THE HIDDEN SIN. That is how Satan traps us and steals our bodies temporarily and misuses us by producing his sinful fruits through us. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members, O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? (Rom.7:24) What a dilemma! How is Paul going to get out of this satanic trap? His soul and body is a bloody battlefield of confusion, tension, and agony. This is wretchedness and even suicidal. This scenario

6 is starting to sound like The Kingdom of the Middle Ground 1 It is necessary for Paul to go through this agonizing season in his life, discovering this all-important life changing truth in Roman 7. The human Paul is not an independent-self able to produce sin or righteousness, and when he tries he ends up sinning more, and more. Satan is the culprit and sinner, not Paul. And this false able self is not who Paul really is. I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in the flesh. That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit (Rom.7:25-8:1-4). This is the lightening flash point of the Cross in operation transforming negative desperation to positive revelation. This is the birth of the faith of the son of God, eliminating Paul s self-strivingself. The only way out of the trap of Romans 7 is to leap out by faith. Paul s leaps from O wretched man that I am, to a positive affirmation and thanksgiving to Christ for what He has already done at the Cross to transform him from mere fallen flesh consciousness to a unified Christ consciousness. Paul continues to recognize how faith works. He sees that he is a Spirit person serving God with the new mind by affirming and receiving the truth. He will not act from flesh to try to change his actions even though those behavior patterns might continue to manifest for sometime. One thing is for sure, Paul will not try to change himself. He is not going to take condemnation because he is serving God by faith, and trusting the Spirit to transform his behavior. Therefore, he is not in sin because Whatsoever is not of faith, is sin (Rom. 14:23). By faith, he is not going to try to conquer his temptations and sins any more, that is the job of the Holy Spirit who apprehends the victory won at the Cross, and on his behalf, setting him free from the striving-self, I am crucified with Christ. Mortify, therefore the deeds of the flesh, by the Spirit (Rom. 8:13). The word, mortify sounds like hard work, yet it simply means, consider yourself already dead to the deeds of the flesh, and trust the Holy Spirit to make manifest the transformation. My good friend says, Frequent trips through hell burns the ugly off! That is why I am so beautiful! A new principal manifests itself, the law of Spirit and life. Whenever we move to a new dimension, a new principal comes into operation. This new law or principle of believing has set Paul free from striving and trying. It is just like the law of gravity being overcome by the law of aviation which lifts the airplane to another level of operation. Christ s substitutionary bodily death on the Cross-has set Paul s soul and body free from Satan s dominion of self-sufficiency and self-activity. With the life of Christ as our life, then Christ himself fulfills the outer law by being the inner law in us. James calls it, The perfect law of liberty (James 1:25)--the perfect principal/person of liberation, Jesus Christ himself. Did Paul ever realize a life free from his coveting behavior? I believe that Acts 20:33 proves that he did. Paul was leaving Ephesus after a prosperous three years of teaching them all the council of God. As he was leaving the city, he delivered his farewell speech, one filled with love and concern. Then he mentions this, I have coveted no man s silver, or gold, or apparel. Yea, you yourselves know, that these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me. Why would Paul even say such a thing unless he himself use to have the problem of coveting, but now found it expedient to work for his own living. 1 The Kingdom of the Middle Ground by Sylvia Pearce can be purchased in the bookstore of theliberatingsecret.org

7 Did Paul still have the temptation? Yes, I think so, but the keeping power of the Spirit kept him from moving over into the besetting sins of his past, as he stood by faith knowing that he was not a lustful, coveting person, and as he depended on his real identity as Christ. Opposites are very important in life, they are our teacher. Paul had to learn who he wasn t, before he could discover who he really was. Satan is on the outside of us deceiving us making us think that we can be good; conquer our own sins and live the Christian life by our own power and wisdom. This is the big LIE of Romans seven. The real truth is: we don t have our own life, Christ is our Life (Col.3:4). Now to the question that we started with at the beginning of these programs; Is this Romans 7 scenario, Paul warring with two natures, that is, one being his new nature, and other one being his old human nature really true? You answer it, the evidence is in. Satan Deceives the Whole World (Rev.12:9) How So? Let us at just who, Satan, the accuser of the brethren is, and how he operates. Jesus say of him in John 8:44 when referring to the judgmental Pharisee s, You are of your father, the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speak of his own; for he is a liar and the father of it. Then the Apostle John says again in Revelations 12:9, the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceives the whole world; So his main agenda is to deceive or to twist the truth into a lie, and then make you believe the lie, as if it were the truth. Since he is not the creator of reality, but only a created counterfeit, he cannot bring into being anything real and true, he then must take what God almighty has already created and twist, or tweak it into his own non-truth, and then con us into swallowing it as if it were the truth. I have often called him King Counterfeit. His quest from the beginning is to be like God Almighty. Satan wants to be all powerful; he wants to be lord over all creation; he wants to be believed as the truth say-er; he even wants to pose himself as the savior of the world. Yet all he can ever be is a fraud, a counterfeit, a con artist; an imitator of God; a twister of truth; masquerading as the real thing when in truth he can be nothing more than a liar, and deceiver, and when not believed, (he gets his power from us believing his lies), he is a relentless accuser. One of Satan s strongest means of deception is through religion, that is, posing himself to be righteous and a proponent of truth, when in fact he is a only a false light filled with his own falsehoods, and ironically believing his own lies. Why am I so emphatic about Satan s evil ways, it is simply because he has taken the precious truths that belong to the Children of God and twisted and perverted them so that when we Christians hear anything even vaguely close to sounding like a New Age truth, we throw the baby out with the bath water. Or, very slowly through the compromises of our church leaders, the world s views slip in and now, just as the New Age guru s predicted in 1986, the lie is accepted as truth while all along our holy minds are being brain washed with satanic thoughts, yet sadly, all in the name of Jesus. CHRIST AND TRUE ONENESS It was Jesus, Himself who declared in John 17:2-23 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them that they may be one, even as we are

8 one; I in them and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in oneness. So Jesus prayed that prayer for his bodily members (you and me) to know oneness in the same sense that He and His father knew oneness, and he prayed that all important prayer to his father, right before his crucifixion. So, oneness is not a devilish thought-up idea at all, Satan happened to steal away something very precious to all believers, and that is our oneness with Christ. Paul declares in Galatians 2:20 that, It is no longer I that lives, but Christ that lives in me, and the life I live, I live by the faith of the son of God who loves me and gave his life for me. The royal crown of the Gospel itself rest in this great declaration of faith concerning our oneness with Christ. Our oneness with Christ is what gives us authority over Satan in our daily lives, so no wonder he has perverted and twisted man oneness with Christ into his own devilment. New Age oneness doesn t have a Cross hearing Savior: it doesn t have a daily Cross where we lay down our lives for others; and it doesn t have self-sacrifice as the premise for life for others. It is Cross-less and Savior-less since we become our own saviors through our own self-empowerment. New Age oneness propagates self-centeredness, self-deification; self-realized fleshly powers, selfgovernment and self-glorification. All these qualities of fallen man manifest because he is broken off from his dependency upon and union with the divine Will. Although, hardly realized, all these self-activities are secretly generated by the spirit of error which is the devil, Himself. Years ago I heard an interview with the High Priest of the Satanic Church on the Oprah Winfrey show. He said a very startling thing. Here is a quote from the transcript: Oprah asked him, The way you explain this (Satanism) is very much the same way a lot of people who are into metaphysics and now into the New Age movement. Is New Age thinking the same as what you are saying? The High Priest of Satan answered, Yes, it is the same, except we Satanist have a more precise grasp of what it actually is. I don t think that they (New Agers) quite understand the facility in themselves, that they are trying to seek out. You see a vagueness in the New Age culture, there is attribution of old religious values to pagan gods or to Mother Nature. We Satanist believe that the responsibility for the determination of one s virtue and for the recognition of one s vices is entirely internal, within your own soul. With your own self. So we do not either excuse our behavior by saying some sort of god or devil made us do it, not do we attribute our virtue to some gift that was inculcated into us by some god. There s not outside factor that controls our behavior. We are responsible for our own behavior and our own ethics and principles and that s what a lot of people can t accept or it s frightening to them and it s much more comforting to think that there s something out there who you can either blame or who will save you, from yourself. Shockingly, the Satanic Priest said that unknowingly New Ager s are immature Satanist s, by worshiping their own selves. We Christians need a fresh interpretation of how Satan gets his expressions of sin and unbelief through us. Satan needs agreement from us Christians, in order to use us as his instrument of sin and unbelief (Rom.6:12-13). He continually has that power and agreement with the unsaved, that is why they are called sinners. However, Satan deceitfully has agreement with God s Saints who unknowingly agree with him believing his lies of self-performance. When Christians rely on themselves instead of trusting in the Holy Spirit s power and the life of Christ within them. Deception means that you believe a lie but mistakenly think it is the truth. Most Christians think that they are independent-self operating beings, able to please God by striving to do so. It is a lie. However it will have a reality, but it will be a false reality. Please bear with me as I spin a kind of

9 ridiculous, but simple yarn that might help Christians understand how Satan deceives us. This yarn will hopefully explaining what deception looks like: If I walk into my living room and sit down in a chair, just being there forms a true reality. But at the same time since I am in my living room, then I am not in my basement, therefore (the no), not-side is also true. I m not there. However, what if Satan made me believe that I was still in the basement after I have come to Christ, and therefore not in my living room. After awhile through his trickery, what if I started to believe him. Satan s thoughts would soon captivate my imagination and cause me to imagine the lie. My imagination would soon envision me being in my basement all alone and separate from God. Self-pity would flood my emotions and I would be fooled into believing his lies. Pretty soon there would be a vain castle of cards built where Satan s lie had formed itself in my mind as a FALSE REALITY. Then daily he would torment me and accuse me with more lies and fears until I was totally trapped in a false reality that is not even true. All I have to do is simply realize that I am really in my living room and what I thought to be the truth is really a big lie. Poof, the lie disappears and the truth sets me free to declare to Satan, You liar, I am in the LIVING room. This is a ridiculous illustration, but sadly and foolishly we Christians fall for Satan s lies just like this story goes. Remember we Christians are seated with Christ in the Kingdom of God, far above principalities and powers; we are dead to sin; we are dead to the law; dead to the world; and dead to fleshly lust. That is the fact made a fact by the Cross of Christ and is absolutely, the truth. However, as the scenario goes we are tricked into believing that we are in another room (our flesh) simply because we believe more in the appearance of separation from God rather than our union with Christ. And, we identify ourselves to be flesh (thoughts and feelings) instead of who we really are, that is, in union with Christ. We believe that we should, by our fleshly human powers, imitate Christ. Try to be more like Jesus. That lie forms a false delusional self, with a false mentality of separation apart from God, and therefore unable to bring forth Spirit fruit because it is based on a lie. If you build a house on an unlevel foundation, the whole house will be lopsided and out of balance. It might not show up at first. But, when you are finished building the house, it will be evident that it is all wrong. Building your life on falsehood works the same way. I believe this same principal is why the angels are always measuring Ezekiel s New Jerusalem temple. Their measurements must be based on the truth and reality of Christ, otherwise it is built on a lie which is a false reality. That would never be permitted in the Heavenly Jerusalem. The scriptures say that all else are outside and, all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone; which is the second death (Rev. 21:8). The Truth The Human has no independent life of its own. Humans are created as derivative beings able to draw life, but from which source? If we draw our life from a false source (which is flesh apart from Christ), we actually give Satan the power to overcome us, because we are participating in his lies. This false reality can become powerful too because you are drawing your life source from Satan who operates the powers of darkness. However, if we, by faith, simply derive our life from the divine LIFE of Christ through his gained intercession of resurrection and ascension; we being in union with Christ like a healthy branch drawing our life from the true Vine of Divine Life. Only then will we bring forth the fruit of the Spirit.

10 My good friend, Steve Pettit once said, we Christians don t have a sin problem, we have a source problem. We are trying to draw our sufficiency from the weakness of the flesh instead of drawing our strength from the power of the divine life of Christ, who is our real life. Do we get it? We were in the flesh without Christ and brought forth nothing but death (Romans 7:5). But now that we are joined to Mr. Resurrection Life, we are not in the flesh, but we are in the Spirit (Romans 8:9). That is the fact and good news of the Gospel. Sadly, we don t really believe the Gospel. We say we do, but we don t because most Christians are running around trying to be their own righteousness. The function of the Christian is not to imitate Christ, but to participate by faith in union with His righteousness. Hear the Gospel Being dead, resurrected and in union with Christ makes you a whole new being and gives you a whole new mentality/identity. Since the Old man, (union with Satan) is dead, that self centered power source is gone in us. Think about it, what can a dead person do? WELL, NOTHING! Basically, we don t live any more. We have to totally depend on the RESURRECTED LIFE of Christ to be our life. So therefore we are crucified with Christ, we are raised in union with Christ, and ascended in union with Christ. That is the living gospel in operation. As long as Satan lies to you, and you believe him, you are the one who gives him power. And, if you want to talk about free will, here it is: it is your choice Which is it? Believe Satan s lies, or believe the truth of the Gospel? When a Christian believes the lie of my own self-life, a false reality comes into being and Satan counterfeits the truth and changes it into a lie and deceives the Christian who believes it. This is the very nature of deception, and is exactly how Satan gets power over Christians. A little leaven leavens the whole lump. The answer is as simple as switching minds: you are not in the flesh, you are in the Spirit in union with Christ (Romans 8:9)! You are not just you, you are joined to Christ; He is your life (I Cor. 6:17; Col. 3:4). However, we Christians are of Jesus (The Truth), and not of the Lie. So as children of Truth, believe what Colossians 3:9 says, Lie not one to another seeing you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created Him. Do you hear what the scriptures is saying? STOP lying about yourself. See that! You already have put off the old man (Romans 6:6) and you have already put on the New Man. When did I do that, you ask?...when you were put into Christ at your conversion. You were baptized into union with Him, at the Cross. So, you derive your righteousness and holiness from His Life and declare by faith that you are righteous and holy by virtue of His righteousness in you. Jesus Christ has redeemed us; He has reconciled us to the Father; He re-gene-ed us with a new genealogy; He restored our soul; He healed our body; He justified us; He sanctified us; And, He did it all by the transforming power of the Cross. Christ was made sin on our behalf that we might be made His righteousness (II Cor. 5:21). Sin is being indwelt with a satanic sin nature producing selfcenteredness, blindness, pride of life, vain glory, love of the world, the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, envy, strife, separation from God, and so on. Christ died to all these misuses and has raised us up together in union with Himself in His holy life making us a New Creation. Believe God and live in union with Christ. According as his divine power has given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that has called you to glory and virtue; Whereby are given unto us exceedingly great and precious promises, that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust (II Peter 1:3-4).

11 Back to my ridiculous LIVING-room/basement illustration: See yourself in the LIVING ROOM, and not in the dark basement, because the true reality is that you really are in the LIVING Royal Palace seated with Christ far above all demonic rule. Live in the light of the LIVING ROOM Dance there, sing there, and praise the Lord there. Experience peace, love, joy, there; know ascended Power, Divine Wisdom there in the LIVING ROOM. By all means see yourself by faith in the living room and not in the dreadful fearful dark basement. You are in the Kingdom of Light. You have been translated out of the kingdom of darkness and are definitely not in darkness. You are a child of light, walk as children of light (I John 1:6-7). Stand by faith in the fact that you are already delivered from basement dwelling. Are you still manifesting some of these dark behaviors? It s only because Satan has you believing that you are permanently trapped in the basement. Humanistic psychology tells us that we are always going to be trapped in the darkness of drug or alcoholic-addictions, co-dependencies, personality disorders and such sinful behaviors. This is a lie! Stand still and see the power of the resurrected life of Christ deliver you daily (Romans 5:10) from the deeds of misused-flesh. Stand up and walk as children of Light and Life.